Dave Collymore, a 34-year-old Jamaican, has been a resident of Japan for the past seven years. He was recruited as an assistant language teacher (ALT) to teach English to elementary school kids in a rural area of Okayama Prefecture, where, it turned out, unsurprisingly, he was the only black person.
His conspicuous difference from the natives and the other, mostly Caucasian ALTs, plus a stint on a local TV show, gave him celebrity status in the area. Everyone knew him, and that made for both a pleasurable yet highly scrutinized life. After three years in the countryside, though, Dave made his way to Yokohama, where he has since become an ALT trainer.
In addition to his work in education, Dave is an author and poet. He has performed "dub poetry," a Jamaican style of spoken-word poetry combining lyrics with rhythms, all over Japan, Jamaica and in several other countries. He has also penned a book of verse called "Poetic Expressions of Peace and Love."